Brigette: Magazine with no models? C’mon…

Thank you to Miriam from Berlin, Germany for sending us the scoop on Brigitte Magazine from The Frisky, the first magazine in the world to declare a ban on models in their magazine. Say what??

UPDATE 10/07/09 This story was picked up by the BBC, view convo going on here

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German models are sent packing!

Today, the country’s most popular women’s magazine announced that it’s banning professional models in favor of real people — what a concept.

Starting next year, the bi-monthly Brigitte will feature a mix of prominent women and regular readers in photos dealing with content from fashion to fitness in an attempt to fight unhealthy beauty standards and please readers who are sick of seeing models with “protruding bones,” said Andreas Lebert, the magazine’s editor-in-chief.

Hmmm…how can we push American mag rags to listen to the people who pay their bills?

Starting today, women may submit photos on Brigitte’s website to be considered for the magazine, and those selected will be paid the same as a professional model.

Lebert said this “should not be understood as a declaration of war on the modeling profession.”

Oh, I am totally impressed that they would even think of putting a size 12 women in a magazine! I think it’s a great thing and it should be encouraged, I just wish that mainstream publications would turn their attention to us bigger gals as well. Even ads geared to plus-sized women are guilty, as they tend to use models on the low end of the plus-size scale. I’m about a size 20-22 and I rarely see women like me in the mainstream media.

I love this. One thing I like about a lot of models in Shape is that they are real magazine readers. Sure they have great bodies but they are real people who work hard for them and have regular jobs to boot. They take care of themselves not to be in magazines but to feel good.

As a follow up:
A few days ago the famously acclaimed “first issue without professional models” hit the newsstands.
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Yeah…well…I was quite shocked.
YES apparently they dont use models anymore. BUT this hasnt stopped them from advertising their own “Brigitte Diät” (Brigitte Diet) on the frontpage.